Favorite host city

Discussion in 'WC 2014 Travel and Tickets' started by falsenine, Jul 14, 2014.

  1. falsenine

    falsenine New Member

    Jul 8, 2014
    Club:
    Botafogo Rio Janeiro
    Thought I would create a thread for people to rank their favorite Brazilian host cities from the World Cup. Obviously everyone will have had different experiences in each city and it will be interesting to hear why they enjoyed some cities more than others.

    My favorite cities in order:
    1. Belo Horizonte (best nightlife)
    2. Port Alegre (great nightlife)
    3. Rio
    4. Curitiba
    5. Cuiaba (I found the city quite unorganised)
     
  2. Jyeatbvg

    Jyeatbvg Member

    Nov 11, 2013
    Toronto, Canada
    In terms of personal experience and not the actual cities

    1. Salvador
    2. Rio
    3. Brasilia
    4. Sao Paulo
     
  3. christianeck

    christianeck Member

    Apr 17, 2014
    Club:
    Zvezda BGU Minsk
    In my Opinion and for my experience is Sao Paulo!
    Great city, I went to 2 hotels, first Ibis Paulista (very very nice) and then Estanplaza Paulista (Also verty nice).
     
  4. popularside

    popularside Member+

    Dec 14, 2009
    dublin
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    Went to 9

    1) Manaus
    2) Rio
    3) Natal
    4) Sao Paulo
    5) Belo Horizonte
    6) Brasilia
    7) Fortaleza
    8) Salvador
    9) Recife
     
  5. AcesHigh

    AcesHigh Member+

    Nov 30, 2005
    Novo Hamburgo
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    the difficulty in this is: how many people visited all cities? Probably none.


    anyway, are people rating cities based on what? On the cities themselves (like, would they return there for a vacation) or are the rating the cities based solely on the act of hosting the tournament?
     
  6. popularside

    popularside Member+

    Dec 14, 2009
    dublin
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    I know people who saw games in all 12 cities. If I could have gone for longer I would have made all 12. I made all 10 in South Africa in a shorter trip.

    It is always going to be subjective anyway. I based mine on a combination of organisation, stadium and the city itself. However I had an amazing time at a wonderful tournament. My only regrets are not going for longer and not seeing more games in more places.
     
  7. Steve Page

    Steve Page Member

    Oct 30, 2013
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    To an extent any individual's experience of a city during a short stay depends on what they see and do. If you go to the rights places you will have a good time in most cities. If you don't know enough about a place and don't get lucky it might not be so good.

    1) Rio. It is a fabulously beautiful city. Possibly the best location for any city in the World. The nightlife in Lapa was great. The fan park was the best. The beaches were great. I loved watching an Argentina match at a little outdoor beach bar at Ipanema, it was good to see the passion of the people for football and the desire to see Argentina lose. Felt right at home! A climate that allows outdoor eating and drinking year round is a great advantage. I even liked a taxi driver explaining to me all sorts of unmentionable things about Fluminense - suffice to say he was a Flamengo fan. Pao de acucar was excellent. Corcovado less so as the lines were ridiculous.

    2) Sao Paulo. The top two are pretty much interchangeable with different strengths and not many weaknesses. I stayed at the Melia Paulista right by Consolocao station. Great staff and much better value than anything in Rio. Hospitality in Sao Paulo was superb. Particularly during the Brazil - Mexico match, which I watched in a bar. Really appreciated the free snacks and a very friendly crowd. Great nightlife that I only scratched the surface of. I live in London and SP makes London look small! If you like cities you should be able to find something to your liking in SP. Not a fan of Corinthians Arena though. I had some Portuguese lessons before travelling and my teacher was from Sao Paulo, this really helped me most here because the accent was easier for me to understand. Being able to use more Portuguese was great for communication and also for my self-esteem.

    3) Belo Horizonte. Unfortunately I was not there very long, otherwise it may have vied with the top two. Great location for the stadium. Had a great meal at a restuarant called Porcao with a great view over the city. Nothing bad to say but I didn't have the time to fully explore.

    4) Recife. Good food. Nice beach. The poverty there was the most noticeable and the street prostitution quite shocking really. You don't get such widespread street prostitution in England, it is mostly. Nightlife was a bit lacking or at least hard to find. Great stadium though and the people were friendly.

    Overall it was a wonderful trip with excellent hosts that confirmed my positive views of Brazil.
     
    BlackDiamond, igorcsso and GRBomber repped this.
  8. Piffy187

    Piffy187 Member

    Jul 26, 2009
    FL
    Club:
    CA Peñarol
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I only went to 3 so
    1.Natal
    2.Salvador
    3.Recife

    All the stadiums were just effing beautiful!
     
    azevedof repped this.
  9. paulalanr

    paulalanr Member

    Nov 5, 2013
    New Orleans, LA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I got to 6 of the 12 venues, so a decent sample size; and a ranking is pretty simple for me:

    1. Rio de Janeiro - greatest city I have experienced anywhere in the world. Loved nearly everything about it. Even loved complaining about the things I didn't like. It's strikingly beautiful, urbane, relaxed, industrious, optimistic, and full of young, wise, forward-looking energy. Perfect.

    2. Salvador - really gorgeous city with a very electric and edgy vibe. Could be scary for more sensitive, civilization-loving types. I wouldn't want to live there, but really glad I got to experience it. Plus, I've never liked the ocean as much in any other spot in the world.

    3. Manaus - very nice warm friendly unpretentious city. Like the American midwest, but without all the ultra-orthodox christian corn farmers. Had great simple food, good cheap fun, and everybody was everybody's else's neighbor and friend. Excellent surprise of a city in the literal middle of nowhere.

    4. (Belo Horizonte, from reputation alone) - heard so many great things about this place I really regret not visiting. I originally planned to catch Costa Rica vs England, but decided to save the money once that match became meaningless.

    5. Natal - seemed like a decent, maybe a little sleepy, slightly tired city. Friendly enough, simple enough, pleasant place to see a match and enjoy some time.

    6. Recife - nothing remarkable about my short time there. City was big and a little difficult to navigate. Clearly there are infrastructure issues when slightly above normal rainfalls caused a massive transportation failure. Odd decision to put the massive nice new arena out at the city's rural fringe. On the other hand, it was charming to see chickens roaming the streets and people growing crops next to their homes while they watched hordes of rich foreigners trudge through their neighborhood to the stadium. or, um, wait . . . maybe charming isn't the right word . . . .

    7. (all
    8. the
    9. other
    10. host
    11. cities)

    12. Sao Paulo - I had a horrible awful no good very bad day in Sao Paulo, plus I'm naturally averse to cities any bigger than Chicago, so that's no surprise. I'm sure there are good things there, but dragging me through that post-apocalyptic mess to get there already has me turned off. Just not my thing, sorry.
     
  10. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    I went to 4 cities for the WC and 1 for the Confederations Cup, so I'll rank these 5 based on my experiences in each:

    1. Sao Paulo - Well, I'm not really a beach-bum so what's there not to like then about Sao Paulo? Kind of like New York but with a modern subway system, great weather and where football/soccer is #1. RATING: 9.0

    2. Fortaleza - Unlike the other northeastern host cities, the rainy season was NOT June - July. So it was always sunny and that helped. Also had a good party atmosphere. RATING 8.0

    3. Natal - Nice that the stadium was in the city-center. Bad that the airport was a billion miles outside the city though (have to travel through two dinky little towns and down dirt roads to get there). I liked how all the restaurants and bars were grouped together. Made bar-hopping easy. RATING 7.0

    4. Rio - Fantastic scenery, of course. The traffic, construction and food put me off a bit but maybe I was just unlucky. Also by far the most expensive city I went to in Brazil. Finally, Copacabana looks like it could use a face-lift. RATING 6.5

    5. Recife - Seemed awkward to get around. And unlike Natal, the bars and restaurants were spread-out over a large area with large stretches of nothing in-between. By far the worst beach out of the 4 coastal cities I visited. Also sucks that whenever it rains its close to impossible to get around (I ended up selling my Germany x USA tickets because of this). RATING 3.5
     
  11. Zoey

    Zoey New Member

    Jun 9, 2014
    London
    1) Salvador - Great vibe, beautiful city and much preferred to Rio. This was my first trip to Brazil and I'll definitely be going back, but not to Rio -to Salvador. I can't wait to see it in full carnival mode.

    2) Brasilia - Just for the architecture. I've never seen a city constructed quite like Brasilia.

    3) Rio - loved Lapa, amazing views all over the city and nice atmosphere but I think the country has much better cities to offer in my opinion. If I only went to Rio and hadn't gone to any other cities I definitely feel like I would have unknowingly missed out.

    Overall it sounds like all the host cities were great places so it really is subjective as someone mentioned. That said, Rio was bloody expensive - and this is coming from someone that lives in London!
     
  12. paulalanr

    paulalanr Member

    Nov 5, 2013
    New Orleans, LA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't understand all the talk about Rio being expensive. I was there for three weeks, and what I noticed is that if you weren't paying attention, and just bought whatever, yeah, maybe you could have spent a lot of money. But with paying a little bit of attention to prices, you could easily live there for less than I do here in Nashville, one of the lowest-cost cities in the US.
    All I can imagine with the talk of it being expensive is that people spent all their time in Copacabana/Ipanema, or maybe ventured out to the higher-end clubs in Lapa or Barra de Tijuca. Groceries were significantly cheaper than at home. Restaurant food was comparable, with some things cheaper, some things more expensive. Drinks were significantly cheaper than at home. Clothing in stores and in malls were comparative to cheaper. Accommodations were very reasonable considering it was during a major worldwide event. I spent about 60% more staying in Salvador for three nights than I did per night in Rio.
    The only items I saw that were consistently more expensive in Rio, and in all of Brazil than in the US were imported electronic goods, cars, and oddly, maybe 1/2 of any given entrees on a restaurant menu. (I say odd, because the other half might be relatively cheap, and many other items on the same menus were also very reasonable. I never did figure out that phenomenon....)
     
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  13. ttnpier

    ttnpier Member

    Feb 1, 2014
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Just want to second, or third, the recommendation that Brazil become the home of the World Cup. Or maybe every other World Cup. Real tough for Russia to top this.

    I was only in Rio and Belo Horizonte. Had been to Salvador on a previous visit.

    Rio was great, the vibe, the beach, Copacabana.Belo was nice, the little I saw in the roughly 24 hours I was there. Really friendly and helpful people. Always got that amused smile with my poor Portuguese.
     
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  14. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Cheaper than your home maybe but still expensive by Brazil standards.

    For accommodation, maybe you were lucky, but I thought it was outrageous. $200-250 for a 3 star hotel in a good location? For South America, that's up there! Good thing the Brazilian Real dropped in value compared to the $US in the years leading-up to the world cup. It could have been 20-30% worse!
     
  15. morecast

    morecast Member

    Mar 11, 2014
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    Univ Catolica
    Definetly depends on the city.
    While planning decided to base my stay in Sao Paulo. While I was looking for accomdations in Brazil the prices where very different between cities. I looked for 3 star hotels in good locations in each city.
    Brasilia: $300 a night
    Rio: $200 a night
    Sao Paulo: $75 a night
    For a 10 night stay I saved over $1000 for choosing Sao Paulo.
     
  16. jesta

    jesta Member+

    Feb 9, 2014

    AcesHigh, part of our group vistied all host cities, and two of us left out Curitiba and went to see Iguazu falls instead.

    Pointing out the best host is pretty much impossible, very subjective at least. You can't really do that. Funnily enough, we all agree that Sao Paulo is ugliest city of them all. Rio was sort of epicenter of the whole World Cup, and Copacabana is cool indeed, everyone agrees that, , but as a city, we all have our own favourites that do not match each other. We definitely had the best fun in Belo and Natal, but that was only our group!
    Same with Capetown 4 years ago, or Stuttgart 8 years ago, but I guess different people will tell you different stories.
     
  17. AcesHigh

    AcesHigh Member+

    Nov 30, 2005
    Novo Hamburgo
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil

    there are tons of other stuff that are much cheaper in the US, including clothing.

    that´s why brazilians travel to Miami just to buy stuff. I will have a baby with my wife, and we are planning a trip to Miami to buy only baby stuff, from clothing to baby carriages, toys, etc.
     
  18. AcesHigh

    AcesHigh Member+

    Nov 30, 2005
    Novo Hamburgo
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    any of your group visited Porto Alegre? What were their impressions?
     
  19. jesta

    jesta Member+

    Feb 9, 2014
    yes, all of us who stayed for second round. we came for germany-algeira game. unfortunately only briefly, just enough to make a short sightseeing around historical center before the game and that's it. good food, as nearly everywhere in brasil :) I didn't like the stadion at all, looks nice from outisde but far too much space inside the stadium for my taste. luckily the game was great! :D
     
    AcesHigh repped this.
  20. Ric_Braz

    Ric_Braz Member+

    May 13, 2009
    Wiltshire, UK.
    Club:
    AFC Wimbledon
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    My order of favouritism was:-

    1.) Fortaleza (most relaxed and friendly)
    2.) Rio (most interesting but not the most welcoming)
    3.) Salvador (lots going for it and some fascinating parts but too much unkept and a bit of a mess in places)
    4.) Sao Paulo (Only saw bits between airports and ground and it was a cold cloudy day, but Goodness it was depressing).

    I woudl not challenge people who have been to a large number of cities but not sure how one can really know a city if only there for a day or two.
     
  21. AcesHigh

    AcesHigh Member+

    Nov 30, 2005
    Novo Hamburgo
    Club:
    Gremio Porto Alegre
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil

    I repped you, because we gremistas were against Internacional stadium being chosen for Porto Alegre. :)
     
  22. rooboy91

    rooboy91 Member

    Apr 25, 2007
    Perth, Australia
    Club:
    Perth Glory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    The cities I went to were Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Cuiaba, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.

    I don't think I could really rank them to be honest. I will be revisiting Rio and SP soon (in a couple of months). I don't think I really saw enough of Curitiba and Porto Alegre - I spent a lot of time in the historical centres which weren't the greatest places. I think Cuiaba was the place that seemed to have been shortchanged the most of the places I visited with a lot of the transport infrastructure still under construction and not being the most visitor-friendly environment. The "problem" with a World Cup is that because there is so much football, you don't get the chance to properly see the country.
     
  23. jesta

    jesta Member+

    Feb 9, 2014
    I would say the problem is rather that we force ourselves to see too much football and focus too much on it. At least that's what me and my mates do every time. But it is world cup, so it is fully normal to do so :D
     
  24. MFKS78

    MFKS78 Member

    Feb 25, 2014
    Club:
    Newcastle Jets
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    I found I missed a lot of the WC because I was actually out enjoying Brazil.

    I went to 12 matches and watched a fair few on TV but I sure missed a pile as it was a case of go out and do/see this or sit around and watch Team A v Team B add in those missed whilst getting to and from games and hell I missed a lot of the tourny
     
  25. rooboy91

    rooboy91 Member

    Apr 25, 2007
    Perth, Australia
    Club:
    Perth Glory
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Correct me if I'm wrong but you spent a lot of time in Rio, was there anything that you would recommend outside the usual tourist stuff?
     

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